Naples has been rocked by a 4.4-magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit the area in the last 40 years.
The tremors were preceded by a ‘huge roar’, local media reports, sending people running into the streets at around 1.25am.
The powerful quake lasted about 20 seconds and awoke the entire city and large parts of the surrounding region.
The epicentre was recorded at a depth of 2.5 kilometers beneath the municipality of Pozzuoli, a city along the coast from Naples, according to the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).
It triggered a seismic swarm which saw a series of less powerful tremors shake the city for two more hours as panicked residents huddled in the street.
Firefighters in Pozzuoli pulled an injured woman from the rubble after the ceiling in her house collapsed.
In Bagnoli, rescuers worked to free people trapped in their homes, with some residents climbing out windows, according to news agency ANSA.
The earthquake was the joint strongest to hit the area in the past four decades, with a 4.4-magnitude quake also recorded in May last year.
As with last night’s quake, the epicentre was recorded in the Phlegraean Fields area, beneath which there Europe’s largest active volcanic caldera – the hollow left after an eruption.
Rubble falls from buildings, crushing a vehicle below, after the powerful quake hit the Naples area early this morning
Terrified residents ran out into the streets after being awoken by the earthquake, which struck around 1.25am
Rubble is seen on the pavement after falling from the cornices of buildings in the Bagnoli district
The powerful quake lasted about 20 seconds and awoke the entire city and large parts of the surrounding region
Photos and videos posted on social media this morning show cars covered in stones and debris, cracked houses and panicked residents pouring into the streets in the middle of the night.
The fire service said it was carrying out checks across the areas of Bacoli, Bagnoli and Pozzuoli.
In Bagnoli, a seaside district in western Naples, schools were ordered to close by city authorities, who said waiting areas had also been set up for residents afraid to go home.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said she was constantly monitoring the situation and was in contact with the relevant officials.
Seismic activity is nothing new in the Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) area, which lays in the shadow of the active Mount Vesuvius.
But many of the 500,000 inhabitants living in the danger zone had already been spooked by last year’s quake.
At that time, there were no injuries or any major structural damage.
The eruption of Campi Flegrei 40,000 years ago was the most powerful in the Mediterranean.
A resurgence of seismic activity in the early 1980s led to a mass evacuation which reduced Pozzuoli to a ghost town.
Specialists, however, say a full-blown eruption in the near future remains unlikely.
